James Potter was not a fan of long train rides. He was not overly fond of compacted, confined space. And, above all, James Potter couldn't stand being squished into a box with X amount of strangers. Of course, these were all things he had the misfortune of looking forwards to as he trailed after his parents in Kings Cross Station. It was to crowded for his liking, with to many people pushing past one another, not bothering to apologize whenever they almost ran over the 11 year old boy and his cart.

"Now, James." His mother said as she turned to face him. They'd stopped in front of a brick wall separating platforms nine and ten. She was a beautiful woman; warm eyes the color of chocolate, hidden behind glasses that framed her face beautifully. She had brown hair to match her eyes, both the exact same color. The curly locks had been pulled into a gentle braid that fell to her waist. "This might sound the slightest bit odd, but we're going to be running through that there wall."

"Eve," James' father said, turning to face the two of them with an exasperated look on his face. His black hair, the same midnight color that James'd inherited, had been gelled so that, rather than hair, it resembled something along the lines of a helmet. "The boy's been playing with floating balls and enchanted books since he could. I highly doubt that he'd find a wall that you can walk through as any surprise."

"You have the cloak I put in your trunk, don't you?" Mrs. Potter whispered to him, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. James nodded in response. She'd told him not to take it out of his trunk until he was in his dorm room and it was late at night, after all his future roommates were asleep. She told him that it'd been given to her on her first day of Hogwarts, and had been passed down for generations in her family.

"Shall we, then?" Mr. Potter arched an eyebrow impatiently. James' father was a very punctual, and hated to be any more than 10 minutes early for any sort of event. He ruffled James' hair as he took his place next to his father and, with a deep breath; the youngest of their family ran head first into the brick wall. He wasn't afraid of it, for he'd seen things like this being done all throughout the wizarding world, however that didn't stop him shocked when he passed effortlessly through, as if instead of bricks he were passing through water.

He was soon followed by his parents, and, after a moment of simply standing there, a hoard of children and adults, all with jet-black hair. "Watch it!" One of the adults called over her shoulder, her wild black curls swinging with her motion before her head snapped back to her own group of children. "Bellatrix! How many times do I need to tell you not to bite your cousin?"

"The nerve of some people, these days." Mrs. Potter asked to no one in particular, a look of disgust crossing her features. James didn't like the way that emotion arranged her features, it made his mother's eyes seem to small and her mouth seem to high above her chin. It was a rare thing, seeing this emotion cross her face, and James hated every time he did see it.

"Never mind those uncultured Neanderthals." Mr. Potter brushed the thought aside and began leading his family to a red and black train titled 'The Hogwarts Express', where hundreds of families were crowded, getting bags into cars, saying their goodbyes, and parents were kissing the top of 11 year old's heads one last time before sending them off for an entire year. "Now, son." It was James's father's turn to spin James to look at his eye. "You make sure to write to your mother and I at least once a month, you hear me?" James nodded, glancing at his gray owl. "And you promise that you'll do your best when Quidditch tryouts roll around."

"Dad, I know." James smirked sarcastically. He was itching to get on the train, but at the same time dreading the experience. "And I promise I'll do everything I can to make the team." His father smiled and ruffled his hair, which he quickly ducked away from. "Dad!" He complained.

"Sorry, sorry." Mr. Potter stepped back and joined his wife to the side of the fake brick wall. "I know, you're a young adult now. I'm just very happy that you're finally going to Hogwarts."

"Charles!" Mrs. Potter gasped and elbowed her husband in the ribs before turning to James. "What your father means to say is that we're both very proud of you, and excited that you're going to get your official wizarding education." She apologized. "And I know he's been pressuring you to be in the Gryffindor house, but you should know that all of the houses are equally great, and you should be placed in the one that best suits you, not the one that everyone wants you to be in."

"Of course a Hufflepuff would say that." Mr. Potter commented under his breath before looking up again, skillfully avoiding his wives annoyed stares –which caused her eyes to expand to twice their normal size as her head turned slowly towards his- as he pushed James gently towards the train. "Now go get on the train before there's no room left."

With that James was off again, stomach flipping over itself as he pushed his cart. Once the majority of his baggage was loaded safely under the train where it belonged he boarded the train –showing his ticket to an older student whom was already in their school robes- and began searching for a compartment with enough room for him. It took him to a different train car, but he did eventually find another car that was mostly empty, save a slightly chubby boy with dirty blonde hair.

"Is it okay that I take refuge here?" He quirked an eyebrow at the boy, whom was absorbed eating the sandwich he'd been devouring a moment before. The boy was sitting on the closest seat to the window on James' right and swiveled his head to face the boy.

"Take refuge from what?" He asked worriedly, a small piece of lettuce falling from his mouth, which he desperately tried to wipe off his white button-up as he swallowed his sandwich bit.

"Relax." James smirked, taking that as his cue to fully enter the compartment and placed his one carry-on bag on the overhead net above the seats to his left, which he then fell onto. "It was just a joke."

"Oh!" The boy across from James nodded, a slightly lost look in his eyes. "Okay . . . Well I'm Peter." He extended a hand, which had a little bit of dirt caked onto the knuckles. "Peter Pettigrew."

"James Potter." He replied, extending his own hand across the narrow space of the isle in between them to shake Peter's hand. "Pleased to meet you, Peter. And thanks for not turning me away."

"'T's not a problem." Peter shrugged and retracted his hand. "I mean, why would I? It's not like I really know anyone else on the train? And what would it say about me if I didn't let you take a seat in the next-to-empty compartment?" He grabbed his sandwich and took another bite from it, chewing thoughtfully.

"You're a first year too?" James asked. He'd assumed that Peter was a second year, at least. Something about him seemed older than James, although he couldn't place a finger on what it was. "Well, that's good. If we luck out, we'll even be in the same house."

"Wouldn't that be something?" His ne acquaintance laughed between bites of his food. "Although I doubt it. I'm probably going to be in Hufflepuff. And you seem like a Gryffindor or Slytherin type of boy. Don't ask me how I know, 'cause I don't know. You just sort of walk in that sort of way. The way you hold yourself, y'know?"

"My mum was a Hufflepuff. Are you saying that being in that house is a bad thing?" He asked, suddenly defensive of the house. "Because some really great wizards were in that house, so you shouldn't be disrespecting it like that."

"Oh no!" Peter quickly apologized, eyes widening to the size of saucers. "I didn't mean it like that! Not at all." He ran a hand through his hair. "Geez, this isn't how I meant for this conversation to go at all. What I meant was that you just seem like the brave type. Whereas I couldn't even hurt a pixie."

"Sorry." James sulked back into his seat. "I guess I'm just really defensive of that house. It gets way more crap then it deserves." He shrugged. "But never mind that. 'Sides, Peter, I'm sure you could be a Gryffindor if you wanted."

"Thanks, James." Peter grinned. "That's really nice of you to sa-"

"All aboard!" A booming man's voice rang across platform 9 ¾. "All aboard the Hogwarts Express!" James looked out the window, intending to find his parents so he knew where to wave when the train began moving, only to watch a young boy sprinting across the platform, trying desperately to shoulder people out of the way.

"Wait!" He yelled, light brown hair flapping as he sprinted. He only carried one trunk with him, which he seemed to be dragging with all his might. "Wait for me! I have a ticket!" Finally, he managed to get to the door closest to James and Peter's compartment, and he heard the poor boy loudly board the train. "Is there anyone else sitting here?" He breathlessly asked once he saw their mostly empty compartment.

"Yeah." James nodded. "Come on in." He watched as the boy gratefully entered their compartment, taking a seat next to Peter after he shoved his trunk on top of the netting. It was old and beat-up looking, but a shiny plaque glimmered next to the handle. R. J. Lupin.

"What's the R stand for?" James asked and readjusted his spectacles. "Ronald? Richard? Roger? Randy? Robin?" He continued listing off names, at least until the boy caught his breath and held up a slightly shaking hand.

"I'll solve the riddle." He grinned shyly. "The R stands for Remus. And, before you ask, the J stands for John." He heaved once more before straightening his grey jacket. "So, What're you two's names."

"Nice to meet you too, Remus." James snarked -with good intention, of course- before pointing to himself. "I'm James." He gestured to the boy across from him. "And that's Peter."

"It's nice to meet you both." He bobbed his head. "Sorry I didn't say so before. I was lacking oxygen in my brain, so I wasn't thinking clearly." He joked before brushing a hand through his hair.

Suddenly, the train lurched forwards, and a whistling sound rang throughout the station. Slowly, the wheels began turning and the train began moving. All of the boys crowded around around the window, waving at each of their parents until they couldn't anymore.

"-Nd stay out!" A female voice called from the compartment across from theirs. Each of the boys swiftly turned their heads to see the door sliding open and watched a girls shove out a young boy, whom looked around James' age. He suddenly recognized the black hair on his head. The door slid shut with a bang –after the girl shoved a bag and a weasel out of the compartment after the boy- and he muttered a string of indecent words.

After getting up and dusting off his trousers, the boy turned his head and saw the three other boys staring. "My cousin Bellatrix, she'd a second year and thinks she knows everything." He noticed the empty space in their compartment and a glint crossed his eyes. "Mind if I join you guys? I sort of lost my space in."

That was how James met Sirius Black, whom wound up sitting next to him. Immediately the two boys hit it off, finding a shared love for Bertty Botts' Every Flavored Beans Roulette, and promising each other a match later.

"Where have you been all my life?" Sirius let out a bark of laughter before calming down and looking over to James and Peter and Remus. "Okay, so Lupin, why exactly were you running to catch up with the train?"

"We arrived late." Remus shrugged. "There's really not any more explanation to it. I mean, I told my dad that we didn't have time to stop to grab something to eat, but he insisted." This caused the group to laugh again and James couldn't help but feeling as though he'd mentally tossed his fear of the train ride out the window. These boys didn't feel like total strangers, they felt like people he'd known his entire life.